Ep 445: Leveraging Educational YouTube Videos To Drive Hundreds Of New Clients Per Year with James Conole

Financial Advisor Success

Michael Kitces

News, Business, Entrepreneurship, Business News

4.8 • 696 Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

James Conole's firm has experienced explosive growth over the past few years (expecting to double its revenue to more than $10 million in 2025) thanks in part to his YouTube channel, which educates and builds trust with ideal prospects before they ever book a meeting.

James is the founder of Root Financial, an RIA based in Encinitas, California, that oversees $1.3 billion in assets under management for 630 client households. In this episode, he shares his YouTube strategy, including how narrowing his content focus to the needs of wealthy pre-retirees and retirees led to fewer views but better-fit clients. Listen in to learn how Root was able to implement a “one-meeting close” with prospects partly due to their familiarity with how the firm operates as well as how the firm systematized client onboarding into a five-meeting process. James also talks about creating the tech-centric “Root University” to ensure consistent advisor training, how his firm builds culture in a remote-first team, and what comes next as the firm continues to scale.

For show notes and more visit: https://www.kitces.com/445

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Financial Advisor Success Podcast, where you go behind the scenes with
0:07.1	financial planner, speaker, and consultant Michael Kitsis to hear stories of how leading
0:12.4	financial advisors navigated the inevitable challenges that arise on the path to success
0:17.4	and get insight from leading industry consultants about how to break through to the next
0:22.2	level in your advisory business. And now here's your host, Michael Kitsis. Welcome everyone.
0:29.0	Welcome to the 445th episode of the Financial Advisor Success Podcast. My guest on today's podcast is
0:35.6	James Canol. James is the founder of Root Financial,
0:38.9	an RIA based in Encinitas, California, that oversees $1.3 billion in assets under management
0:44.2	for 630 client households. What's unique about James, though, is how his firm has experienced
0:49.7	massive growth, expecting to grow its revenue from $4.6 million to more than $10 million in
0:55.1	2025 alone, thanks in part by attracting clients who have engaged with his educational YouTube
1:00.5	videos. In this episode, we talk in depth about how James found that transitioning from audio
1:06.3	and video content covering general personal finance topics to material specifically for his ideal
1:11.6	target clients, pre-retirees and retirees with at least $2 million in investable assets,
1:16.9	initially led to fewer viewers, but ultimately to more interested prospects, why James views
1:21.0	consistency, in his case posting a new YouTube video weekly, and depth of content to differentiate
1:27.3	his videos from others covering
1:28.6	more surface-level material, as keys to his success attracting clients through this medium,
1:33.4	and how James has created a separate YouTube channel that gives prospective clients and potential
1:37.8	employees a behind-the-scenes look at how Root operates and the people behind it, giving these
1:42.2	groups a better idea of what they could expect if they work with the firm. We also talk about how James, once his firm started to receive
1:48.3	a strong flow of leads, increase the friction involved for prospects to schedule an introductory
	...

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